Aurangabad - Built by Throne

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On the way back from Mumbai, our train stopped at an isolated station to clear up the dead body of someone who jumped into the moving train. It was not a pleasant moment to even bring back that awful memory here. I went to a little tea cart on the platform to have a cup of tea. While the policemen and some other passengers helping to move the half torn dead body, I sipped my tea tastelessly.

Nanu sat by the window thoughtfully looking at me. I failed to read her ming at this time but I exactly knew what she was thinking about my tea addiction. There were a lot of people gathered around the scene of the suicide. I went inside the carriage as the train slowly began to leave the platform. We were expecting to arrive in Aurangabad before 10pm but it became obvious for us that we would not be in Aurangabad to find a guest house in day light.

Every time, we arrived at a new place, it gave us a strange feeling of discomfort and unsafe. This time the same feeling occurred in my mind and it swelled larger and larger as Nanu began to worry about the night journey through this city. There was a solution to avoid finding a place in the dark. We might have to spend the night at the train station, which might be the only safe place at night.

What we heard about this place is very little. Many of them came here to visit Ajanta and Ellora caves. However, since we cut our trip short in Mumbai, we have got more than a couple of days to visit the entire “City of Gates” alias Aurangabad.

We arrived in Aurangabad station around 11pm. The city was asleep and only stray dogs and cows were there to welcome us. The dead quiet was even alarming us when we saw that entire city in pitch black. I assumed that there has been a power cut going on for a long time. We decided to take a look outside the station, risky, scary but adventurous. According to the guide book, which we are carrying from the South; there is a guest house not far from the train station. We walked out of the train station to search for the guest house. There was no light except the half moon provides us some sort of guidance to walk. All the shops were closed. We walked quietly along the main road then to an empty and dark road to reach the main iron gate of the motel. The guest house was on our left. It was a two story building, which is located a couple of hundreds walking distance from the train station. We were lucky to have been spotted by a three wheel driver who helped us to wake the security guard of the guest house.

The city is a tourist hub, surrounded with many historical monuments including the Ajanta and Ellora, two famous world heritage sites in the state of Maharasta. There are so many historical monuments to see if you are interested in searching for Mughal period. I marked off most of the places we would like to visit. The limited time is the only barricade to exploring this majestic city and anywhere else in India. We spent two days respectively visiting Ajanta and Ellora. We also had plenty of time to visit many other attractions such as Daulatabad, Kultabad, and the “Poor Man’s Taj”.

The Fourth and the final day in Aurangabad, we went to see a Hindi movie called Aag. It was a recreation of an old movie called Sholay. I would say simply that the new film was a flop! We were centre of everyone’s attention in the cinema hall. I nearly punched a guy who tried to behave badly in the dark. Finally I had to admit to Nanu that it wasn’t the right decision to go to the cinema. Afterwards we went to a local restaurant to try some of renewed international dishes.

It was our last night meal in Aurangabad. We were thrilled ourself, after having visited most of famous and historical places in Aurangabad, which gave us enough of pleasing thoughts to forget unpleasant experiences in Mumbai.

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Photos

View of Bibika Maqbara - Aurangabad
Poor Man's Taj